Monday, December 03, 2007

Opening Reception: Exhibition of Developing Countries by Christina Kang

5:30p-7:30p | W20, Wiesner Student Art Gallery (2nd floor Stratton Student Center)

A retrospective of an MIT funded five country trip by Christina Kang, a senior in brain and cognitive sciences. Shown to convey the social and economic problems faced by each country visited in descending order and size. The countries visited include Thailand and India. On view Nov 25-Jan 4.

Sponsor(s): Student Art Association (SAA)

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Responding To and Rebuilding After Disasters: Human Rights and Development Challenges

6:00p-7:30p | 66-110

Panel discussion with Stephen Bradberry and Eric Schwartz, and Professor Philip Thompson (DUSP) as a respondent, moderated by Professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal (DUSP).

Sponsor(s): Program on Human Rights & Justice

For more information, contact: CJ Huang, 258-7614, phrj@mit.edu

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Nationalism and Development: Asia and the Rest of the World

Time: 6:00p-7:30p

Location: E-51-149

MISTI "What ASIA?" series. Speaker: Alice Amsden, Barton L. Weller Professor of Political Economy, MIT Series addresses major issues related to Asia's policies and politics. Does company ownership affect rates and paths of development? Do national and multinational firms behave in similar ways? Should developing countries care about who owns what? Can we distinguish among different periods of post-war development, based on examples from Asia and other continents?

Sponsor(s): Center for International Studies, MISTI, MISTI, MIT-India Program

For more information, contact: Serenella Sferza. 452-2693 ssferza@mit.edu

"Rethinking the wealth of nations" by K. Daron Acemoglu, MIT Economics

6:00p-7:00p | NW86

Join us for the final talk of the year for the Sidney-Pacific Lecture Series. The speaker is K. Daron Acemoglu, Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics in the Department of Economics at MIT.
Why are some nations over forty-fold richer than others? This talk will provide an informal discussion of recent research on the causes of long run development. It will emphasize how one can overcome the empirical challenges in identifying the causal effects of various factors on long run development. When we make progress towards overcoming these challenges, institutional differences---differences in the social organization of nations---appear as as central factor in explaining long run development. The second part of the talk will focus on the political economy of institutional differences and provide preliminary answers to the question of why some societies are organized in ways that do not encourage long-run economic growth and development.

Sponsor(s): Sidney-Pacific Graduate Community

For more information, contact: Ardavan Farjadpour 617-452-4753 sp-cosi-chair@mit.edu

Monday, December 10

MIT's Center for International Studies presents a Starr Forum on:
Iraq's Three Civil Wars: Is the US Relevant to Them?

Time: 5:00 - 6:30 pm

Location: MIT's Landau Building, 66-110, 25 Ames St, Cambridge, MA

Sponsor(s): MIT's Department of History

Juan Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia. After Sept. 11, he launched a Weblog, "Informed Consent," in hope of offering the public a more accurate interpretation of the Middle East, where he had lived off and on for almost ten years. Informed Consent became a phenomenon, generating in some months as many as a million page views, and making him one of the top bloggers in the world. Cole is widely respected as a public intellectual on the Middle East and, in 2004, was invited to address the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations concerning the war in Iraq.

What's Happening in the Greater Boston Area

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Leadership on the World Stage: Prescription for Health

12:30pm | Benjamin Waterhouse Room, Gordon Hall; Harvard Medical School

HMS Office for Diversity and Community Partnership, HMS Student Affairs Office, Recruitment and Multicultural Affairs Office, and others. 12:30pm, presentation and 2 p.m. reception and discussion. Speakers:
John P. Howe III, president and CEO, Project HOPE Space is limited.
RSVP
kellyjo_cigman@hms.harvard.edu
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/calendar/lectures.html
(617) 432-2645

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Human Rights Film Series: Operation Fine Girl

7:30pm | Democracy Center, Harvard Square

Operation Fine Girl: a documentary on the use of rape as a weapon of war in Sierra Leone. Join us throughout the fall in watching human rights films focused on both local and international communities, discussing the films and issues arising from them with guest speakers, and acting out our concern for human rights through grassroots action.

All screenings are free and open to the public - please arrive early as seating is limited.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

International Development Film Series: Life on the Tracks

6:30pm | Land Lecture Hall, 4^th floor Belfer Building. Harvard

Life on the Tracks was made by the young Filipino director Ditsi Carolino. It is about the Renomerons - a family who live in such crowded circumstances that they are obliged to live some of the time, not just by railway tracks, but on them. Through this semi-comic device, Ditsi is able to paint a picture of survival in the Philippines. Filmmaker Carolino exhibits remarkable skill in capturing the seminal moments of emotion and humor in one family's life journey.
http://www.cid.harvard.edu/events/